hi, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. developing right now, man, oh, man, launch canceled, at least for now. what was supposed to be this record-breaking jump fm high above us in the stratosphere is a no go. chad myers is standing by with me. we'll talk weather and all things helium balloon here in a second. if you're just tuning in here, we have been talking about felix baumgartner, this austrian base jumper. he was set, should have happened right this moment, set to have this balloon, this massive balloon, here it is, take him just about 23 miles above the earth, where he was set to jump.

but here's the big but. the but is that the winds blowing against this super thin material here of this balloon, just too, too much, far too dangerous for him. i want to go straight to the ground to cnn's brian todd who is in roswell, new mexico. and, brian, just sitting around the newsroom, we were all sort of crest fallen, anticipating this hopefully history being made. set the scene for me there on the ground. disappointment. >> reporter: it sure is, brooke. we're all about as deflated that is balloon is right now. we can show you that balloon, our photo journalist mike love will try to zoom into it. the balloon is deflated on the ground over there. that was essentially the reason that this mission had to be aborted today. once they got the thing almost inflated, it looked like it was fully inflated, the winds started really whipping it around. i would say fairly severely. surface winds that came upon, i guess, fairly surprisingly, at that point they decided that it just was not optimum condition to launch this.

they brought felix baumgartner out of the capsule on to a crane where he was lowered. he's in this air stream container, we believe next to the capsule. and so the mission is aborted for today. tomorrow, weather conditions not as certain, so this could be delayed beyond tomorrow, possibly to thursday. we're told initially thursday may look a little better for the weather. we're going to have to keep close tabs on that. right now, brooke, this mission aborted for today, a lot of disappointment here. >> i think it is important to, you know, underline and it tal size the importance, the historic significance of this jump because it will be happening at some point as you point out. chad myers, to you, i know you've been watching this closely with the rest of us. talk to me about how thin that balloon material was. it was, like, i heard it was .1 of a sandwich baggie in thinness, if that's correct. >> it still weighed 3700 pounds, being that thin. that's how big it was. when this balloon got to the top

of the atmosphere, it would have filled six madison square gardens in volume. that's how big this would have expanded to be up at the top of the atmosphere. we knew, brooke, we knew by the time we're talking about now, mountain time, that there was going to be heat on the ground. the temperature this morning when they wanted to launch was 45. it is now 83. that air has to rise because hot air rises, just like that balloon was going to. above roswell, new mexico, was a jet stream today. that air came up to the jet stream, mixed back down. they had a 16-mile-per-hour wind gust, a rolling gust, two minutes later, it was gone. but that 16-mile-per-hour wind gust destroyed the chance of that balloon going into space. we believe that balloon costs almost a quarter of a million dollars and it is done. can't use it again. it is going back in the box and getting thrown away. once it is down to the box, can't put it back together. >> new balloon for the retry. >> they have another backup, thank goodness. i don't think tomorrow looks good. i don't think until sunday looks

good. let me go back to this, see if this graphic is still here, shawn, if it is not, help me out with this. this is what we ran into -- we ran into a cold front. we ran into a jet stream that cooled down the entire east coast. this is the jet stream. here is new york city, here is florida, here is texas. about a month ago when they wanted to do this, the jet stream was 500 miles farther to the north. no wind at all. the capsule on a practice jump was damaged. they had to wait a month to fix t they were behind a month where they wanted to be. and it caused the early fall jet stream to come down with the cold front and that's where the winds came from, that delay. >> look, even though it is disappointing, it is a precarious situation, this is someone's life, so they have to be extra, extra, extra careful. chad, we'll be talking about this i'm sure throughout the week as we anticipate the next launch date. thank you. brian todd, back to you, just because i think this guy's story is entirely fascinating. he's called fearless felix, this

experienced base jumper, his jump -- he jumped off the christ redeemer statue in rio. this was his attempt to supersede anything that happened in history, break the sound barrier, the speed of sound. tell me more about him and your conversation with him when you asked him if he was afraid of death. >> reporter: yeah, brooke, he's a fascinating guy. you mentioned it, he base jumped from the christ of the redeemer statue in rio. this would have been his latest and greatest. the records, we have been well reported. breaking the speed of sound, just outside of a space vehicle, breaking the record for the longest ever free fall. this was going to be, hopefully still will be, his chorowning achievement. i asked him in may about the key question here, are yo scared? take a listen. >> are you scared, nervous? >> actually i'm not scared. i'm not nervous.

there is so much preparation. we rehearsed everything. justting out othecapsule is a pdure which includes 43 steps and we have been properly trained every step. >> reporter: so now they're going through all of those steps again toseehat needs to be adjusted for a possible launch later this week, maybe tomorrow, maybe thursday. we're going to see. chad mentioned that the balloon they were going to use to send this up is now spent, totally correct. you cannot lose that anymore. what we're told is they have a backup balloon that can be used pretty much anytime from here, brooke. so they do have backup systems in place. one other thing to note, they did have a malfunction, a radio problem, one of the radios went dead. they didn't seem to think that was enough to delay the mission. that was when he was sealed in the capsule and when starting to inflate the balloon or just before that. that was another issue that they're going to have to work through in the days ahead. >> as they work through those issue, i have one more question because i've been reading and reading and reading about this whole thing. when this happens and when he

goes high above us, you know, some 120,000 feet and in that capsule and he sort of begins to exit, from what i understand he's basically going to, i don't know, i thought cannonball, the proper way is delta position, which is when you maximize your speed, right? he's trying to maximize his speed as he free falls, correct? >> reporter: that is absolutely right. what they're telling us is he does a little bunny hop. not a dive. can't dive off a sky diver would dive and expand your arms and start to fly right away. he's got to go into a delta position, a bunny hop after the platform and tries to angle his head forward and down, almost into -- like a tuck and that's where he really achieves maximum speed going into the sound barrier and past the sou barrier. this is faster than a jumbo jet travels, 690 plus miles per hour, faster than a jump bbo je travels. he's got to be in the right position.

one of the other risks, brooke, he could in those first 30 seconds or so go into a severe spin. if that happens, he could become unconscious, they might have to operate his -- deploy his chute remotely. these are all risks that could occur. they have taken all of these risks into account. they seem to be prepared for each one of them. >> okay. we will wait a day, a couple of days, have to wait and find out when he can go up there. brian todd if you have access to felix today in the next couple of hours, let us know. we would love to hear from him as well. thank you very much. now this. romney and obama, as the candidates blitz the buckeye state and the polls tighten, could this all come down to ohio? i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. a man close to bashar al assad's regime defects. and speaks to cnn. >> translator: he seemed worried all day long. we rarely saw him smiling. plus, a consulate's attacked, an ambassador is killed, and this lawmaker wants

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aspercreme. it could have been worse for jerry sandusky, the convicted child molester could have gotten 400 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing ten boys over 15 years. but a judge today sentenced the former penn state assistant football coach to no less than 30 years and no more than 60 years in prison. whether 400 or 60 or even 30 simply put, sandusky at age 68 will most likely die behind bars. the former coach did not go down without a last minute play, if you will. last night, on the very eve of his sentencing, sandusky released an audio recording to a campus radio station. and i just want to play a portion of it for you. listen to this. >> they can take away my life, they can make me out as a

monster, they can treat me as a monday sfreste monster, but they can't take away my heart. in my heart, i know i did not do these alleged disgusting acts. my wives has been my only sex partner and that was after marriage. >> jason carol was inside the courtroom for the sentencing today. just listening to that audio, he is still claiming he's not a monster, he is the victim in all of this. but you heard them, victims had their say in court today. what did you see and hear in there? >> well it wasn't just the victims who had their say in court today, also judge cleland as well. since you just played the radio address, let me first give you what judge cleland had to say about that. he made it clear that he actually heard that radio statement that jerry sandusky had released. part of that statement sandusky felt as though it was some sort of conspiracy between the media and the courts and the victims. that's why he was tried for this original case. before sentencing, the judge said like all conspiracy theories, mr. sandusky, it flows

from the undeniable to the unbelievable. and that's basically how the victims felt about this as well, brooke. and there were a number of victims who spoke today, three in all, victim number five, i'll start with him, this young man stood up in front of the court, jerry sandusky, just sitting a few feet to his right, he did not look at jerry sandusky as he read his statement, he cried, he sobbed and said, the sentence will never erase what he did to me. it will never make me whole. he must pay for his crimes, take into account the tears, the pain and the private anguish. and then the young man identified as victim number four stood up. this time, this young man did look at jerry sandusky, not once, not twice, but several times. he looked at him directly and he said i want you to know i do not forgive you. i don't know if i can ever forgive you. then, of course, we heard from jerry sandusky himself. he spoke for about 13 minutes, he was emotional at times, read from a prepared statement that i'm just finding out now it was

a statement he was just putting the final touches on late yesterday, brooke. joe amendola didn't get an opportunity to see the statement in its full entirety until both of them were in court this morning. and joe amendola said i just had a quick opportunity to look over it. jerry sandusky is standing in front of the court and saying, quote, i feel the need it talk, not for arrogance, but from my heart. i'm filled with emotion and determination. i did not do these disgusting acts. others can make me out to be a monster, but they cannot take away my heart. a lot of emotion in the courtroom this morning. brooke. >> jason, he is obviously going away for a long, long time. but, you know, as you point out, the judge could have given him 400 years. there has been some outcry over this sentence that it wasn't enough. what did the judge -- did the judge address that? >> reporter: he did. and he said that the law made it very clear he could have sentenced him to hundreds of years, but he said that he felt as though a sentenceike that would have been abstract, and he

wanted something to issue a sentence that was more realistic. and something that would be felt not only by jerry sandusky, but the victims themselves. had an opportunity when they sentencing was over, spoke to many of the victims' attorneys and they're satisfied with this sentence, but a woman came up to me and just before i was about to go on earlier today and she said, what did he get? i said he got a minimum of 30, a maximum of 60. she said, you know, 30 years times ten, times 100, still wouldn't be enough for what he did to those young men and this community. >> i want to play, if i can here, jason, i want to play another portion of the audio he released last night, jerry sandusky released, suggesting he, again, is the victim here. listen. >> the young man who is dramatic, veteran accuser and always sough attention started everything. he was joined by a well orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, penn state, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers.

they won. >> so despite everything, jason carol, i presume this means an appeal is on the way. >> reporter: oh, most definitely. and joe amendola made it very clear that he intends to appeal, based on the fact a number of factors, but one of the leading factors in his eyes is that he does not feel as though he received enough time to put forth an adequate defense. he felt as though he was rushed through the process, and that's going to be one of the grounds for his appeals. you speak to a number of analysts in that way and they feel as though he's pretty much on thin ice with that type of appeal. but once again, you listen to the radio address, that radio address, that statement really seemed to strike a number of people the wrong way. not just the victims, the victims' attorneys, but the judge himself, judge cleland, one final quote here he said, said the tragedy of this crime is that it is a betrayal. he said it is a crime not just to their bodies, but to their psyche and to their soul.

he made it very clear he had also taken into account not just dottie sandusky's letter she had written on behalf of her husband, but also took into account that radio statement that jerry sandusky gave late yesterday. >> jason carol, we appreciate all your reporting there. just to point out to our viewers, we're seeing pictures of jerry sandusky and underneath the prison garb is a bulletproof vest to protect him from anyone in the crowd today eking restrer reven revenge. he goes to jail and federal prison. >> up next, the race for president, truly neck and neck. less than a month, the polls are tightening. both candidates are zeroing in on one state. can you guess? the state that could be the difference. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em!

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mitt romney up and running, running, of course, for the white house. take a look. mitt romney, new port news, virginia, shaking some hands, on the tarmac, hopping on a plane to iowa. just that pose that picture with the president, boarding air force one, san francisco here on his way to columbus, ohio. before the day is out, romney like obama will venture into the buckeye state with 18 electoral votes there.

cnn's john king is in ohio for us today. we'll be talking to him a little bit later and talk about the importance of the buckeye state come november 6th. right now, mitt romney trying to ride that wave of post debate momentum, in a speech last hour, just west of des moines, a blustery afternoon there, and, a pitch to iowa farmers. >> people have been waiting a long time for a farm bill. and the president has to exert the kind of presidential leadership it takes to get the house and the senate together and actually pass a farm bill. that's something i will devote my time to make sure we get that bill passed so farmers know what they can expect. there are big differences between the president and me. he has no plan for rural america. no plan for agriculture. no plan for getting people back to work. and i do. you know i spoke about it all over the country. and i'm going to make sure i help the american farmer and i help our economy and i get america working again. >> again, mitt romney in iowa today. and now big news from the world of political polls, we're watching all these polls.

so within just this past hour, gallup published its daily tracking poll. nationwide poll, registered voters, you see it here, obama 49%, romney at 46%. that is up one point from yesterday. one point down, actually, for the president. and, hang with me, now as we're counting 28 days here until the election, gallup unveiled a tracking poll of likely voters here, likely voters added to the mix. you see the numbers. romney at 49, above obama at 47%. again, among as it points out, likely voters. it is at least the third poll since sunday showing romney leading obama, very, very significant. so is team obama, you know, pushing the panic button? apparently not. not from the ad -- the campaign released today. take a look. >> big bird. >> big bird. >> big bird. >> it's me, big bird. >> big, yellow, a menace to our economy.

mitt romney knows it is not wall street you have to worry about, it is sesame street. >> the ad follows romney's plan to cut funding for pbs. sesame street declaring itself nonpartisan is asking team obama to take that ad down. a romney spokesman says it is alarming the president is talking about sesame street a month before the election. tonight, wolf blitzer has live interview with mitt romney, 6:00 eastern, only here on cnn. tune in for that. then jump ahead to thursday. it is the vice presidential debate, joe biden versus paul ryan, cnn special live coverage begins 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific on cnn. spinning lies and publishing propaganda, a syrian palace insider defects from the bashar al assad regime and spills his secrets to cnn. that's next. capella university understands rough economic times have led to an increase in clinical depression. drug and alcohol abuse is up.

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a syrian defector is telling his tale of intrigue and betrayal and syria's president wandering the halls, kicking chairs. he claims he witnessed firsthand what is going on inside the bashar al assad regime. the defector is in turkey and that's where he spoke with our ivan watson. >> reporter: abdullah al omar used to rub shoulders with some of the most powerful people in syria. government ministers, foreign dignitaries, and even the syrian president. for five years, omar claims he worked in the presidential palace, his main job was propaganda. >> translator: i was a member of the press office in the presidential palace. we met and manufactured news and see how we could distribute and publish these lies. we invented stories that would help justify the crimes committed by the syrian regime. >> reporter: omar says he was a member of a 15-person team working under long time government spokeswoman bethaynia

shaban. omar's job was to trash the defectors' reputations. >> translato we contacted regime loyalists from lebanon and syria to aper as guests. to say the defectors were bad and corrupt. >> reporter: now omar is one of those defectors and he's offering details and impossible for cnn to independently verify about how the syrian president has coped with the uprising. how did bashar al assad's behavior change over the last year and a half? >> translator: he seemed worried all day long. we rarely saw him smiling. he paced up and down the corridors and stared out the windows at damascus. he was always anxious and tense. one day i saw him kick a table. he was cursing, swearing against the syrian people. >> reporter: omar shows photos of himself with top iranian officials, like the iranian ambassadors to damascus and beirut. were the iranians meeting with bashar al assad frequently?

>> translator: almost daily, he tells me, four and five times a week. omar says the biggest crisis came in july, after a bombing killed this man, presidential security adviser hassan turkmani and three other security officials. he said the bombing seriously wounded assad's brother, a military commander who hasn't been seen in public in months. >> translator: two days after he returned from medical treatment in russia, mahare al assad came to the presidential palace. he lost his left leg in the bombing and the use of his left arm. >> reporter: he deflected and fled to his hometown in northern syria, now a ghost town devastated by the civil war. how did you feel when you saw the destruction? >> translator: i swear, i cried when i entered and saw all the houses and shops abandoned and everything destroyed and burned. when i saw it with my own eyes,

i cried. and asked how could bashar al assad do this. i went to apologize to the syrian people because i worked for this butcher this killer regime. >> reporter: a tearful apology, but his sincerity is questionable, when coming from a man who admits to spending years lying for the syrian regime. ivan watson, cnn, istanbul. >> ivan watson, thank you. u.s. consulate attacked, ambassador killed and now some lawmakers were demanding ansers from the obama administration over what exactly happened and that includes congressman jason chaffetz who just returned from libya. he'll join me live and tell me what he discovered next.

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it has been almost a month now since four americans were killed in libya, u.s. ambassador chris stevens, foreign service officer shawn smith and former navy s.e.a.l.s glen woods and

brian doherty. no one is forgetting about the sacrifice they made. >> you can imagine how i felt when i found out that he was one of the two former navy s.e.a.l.s killed in benghazi on september 11th and it touched me, obviously, as i recognize this young man that i thought was so impressive, had lost his life in the service of his fellow men and women. he -- according to the reports on cnn international that i read, he was actually in a different building, in an annex, a safe place somewhere else across town when he and his colleagues there heard that the consulate was under attack. and they went there. >> mitt romney getting emotional there in iowa today. tomorrow there will be a hearing on capitol hill to look into, quote, the security failures that preceded the attack, end

quote, from the oversight government reform committee's website. as the committee is searching for answers, what is known is that it took the obama administration eight days before acknowledging the attack was, in fact, a terrorist act. i want to bring in utah congressman jason chaffetz, a member of the oversight panel. chairman of the subcommittee and just got back from libya after spending the weekend there on a fact finding mission. welcome back to the show. let's just begin with where specifically in libya did you go and what did you find? >> could not get into benghazi, still too dangerous. the first thing we did is i got emotional and talking to the people there on the ground. they lost four loved ones. their ambassador, they're away from their families, they're serving their country, and after we did that, we toured the embassy itself, looked at what was going on with the security and had some good lengthy

discussions about what did and did not happen leading up to the event on 9/11. >> what was your biggest takeaway from the trip, biggest takeaway, biggest frustration. >> upon reflection, there was not a single person that ever mentioned this video that the obama administration claims sparked the whole thing. nobody on the ground ever mentioned that as one of the issues there on the ground. i also walked away with my own personal impression that really politics was driving the security decisions. the need and desire by the obama administration to have the perception of normalization as quickly as possible as opposed to letting the security personnel dictate what security should look like in libya. >> perception of normalization. is this based upon people you spoke with, details you know that you can't share, or just a gut feeling? >> a little bit of all of the above. but clearly there was an ask to secure the physical facilities and have upgrades to tho,

those were denied. they had made requests for additional american personnel who knew how to handle a gun and protect those. that was also denied. there was a reduction, for instance, in benghazi, the plan laid out by ambassador kennedy in december of 2011 said we would have five personnel there on the ground, protecting americans. they never reached that goal of five. but they were encouraged to hire more libyans. it is after a revolution, there isn't exactly a rent acop around the corner. how do you vet and train people in a proper way and then part of the consequence is, i mean, look, we have four dead americans in a consulate, an outpost there that we can't still to this day get to. >> i understand this happened after the revolution. to your point about not relying on home country security, it is fairly typical having talked to people at the pentagon, our folks at the pentagon, it is fairly typical to rely on local security and not always u.s. that said, congressman, i have this letter, the letter dated october 2nd that you and

chairman issa sent specifically to secretary of state hillary clinton and let me just read part of it for you and just for our viewers. you helped write this. it reads, multiple u.s. federal government officials confirmed to the committee that prior to the september 11th attack, the u.s. mission in libya made repeated requests for increased security in benghazi, the mission was denied, these resources by officials in washington and you go on to state the different examples. you say confirmed to the committee. the question is, did you -- did congressman issa talk to democrats about sending the letter? >> we have fully informed the democrats. we interviewed somebody this morning, the democrats were there. i went to tripoli, he invited democrats to come to that. of course we did that to be involved in the whole thing. >> we're hearing a different story from democrats who are telling cnn that they got a 24-hour heads up. >> that's what i got too. that's what i got as well. given the security parameters

there, i could barely talk to my wife to tell her i was going in there, that's about all the security would allow us to go in there. imagine the targets that we would be knowing that we would be there on the ground. i did go down with general hammond. the state department sent an attorney from their office and joined us the entire time. to suggest the democrats weren't with us, the state department had their attorney with me the whole time. >> you were given a 24 hours heads up to go to libya and they said they were just cc'd on this letter to secretary of state clinton and not informed in any other way. >> well, that's the way we communicate, we share the letter with them as we did to the white house. there is policies and procedures to do this. we're going to have the hearing here. i wish somebody else had come with me on the trip, but nobody dropped everything and joined me. i did, but they didn't. >> since -- i understand. since the republicans took control of the house in 2010, have you, congressman chafdz

have you personally voted to cut funding for embassy security worldwide? >> i've absolutely decided -- voted to cut spending at the pentagon and on other things within the state department. but what we have to do in this station is we have to prioritize things. so for instance, in baghdad, we have 15,000 contractors, there are over 6,000 security contractors there on the ground. this is president obama's essentially private army. yet we're arguing about whether or not we can get one dozen, maybe two dozen people into libya. you have to make financial decisions and prioritize things, what my point is, we have to prioritize, security should be dictating security, not allow politics to dictate security. and that's what i'm afraid happened in this situation. >> so sadly because of what happened in benghazi, you agree that security needs to be reprioritized whether you're a republican or a democrat and more funding needs to continue. and sadly -- >> you have to prioritize.

you have to prioritize this. we spend more than $30 billion in u.s. aid. maybe we can't give out as much aid as we want, maybe we should say we need to protect the assets and people that we have, that's a bigger priority than handing tens of millions of dollars as we do on a yearly basis to china. we give u.s. aid to china, we're not protecting our people there on the ground in libya. and i'm worried that there are other embassies and other situations around the world that aren't getting this security parameters, that they're asking for. >> and you have this -- this mi meting, this massive meeting tomorrow, i'm sure there will be many questions answers and many witnesses testifying. final question, can you confirm to me that the fbi did visit the compound in benghazi for i believe it was five hours with guards last week? do did that happen? >> i cannot confirm the length of time, but it is my understanding that they were able to be there for some point of time. i have no idea how long. >> thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. thank you.

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we're helping you pay off your student loans. with me are liz miller and greg mcbride. greg, here is a question for you. >> what is the fastest way to pay off my student loans? >> first of all, should she be in such a hurry to pay off her loans? >> look at the private student loans, first and focus on getting those paid down. not only do they tend to have higher and variable interest rates but they lack the flexibility of things like forbearance that lets you suspend payments if you have a period of financial difficulty. a lot of federal student loans have that provision in there. rank your debts from highest interest rate to lowest, focus the excess pamyments on the highest rate obligation. then focus on the next highest and so on down the line. >> any additional advice? >> the only other advice that people forget if you're focused and you have a lot of debt, you can make a commitment to work in a nonprofit or a number of government service jobs and after ten years of service, the remainder of that debt will be

forgiven. and a lot of people who feel strapped forget that potential opportunity is out there. >> i forgot about that as well. good advice, thanks very much. if you have an issue you want our experts to tackle, upload a 30-second video with your help desk question to ireport.com. a new at home hiv/aids test could help more people find out they're infected. and help cut down on the spread of the disease. and the one, the only, magic johnson, so nice to meet you. such a pleasure. going to join me live next to talk about the test that could save your life. that's next. ally bank. why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world.

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we know that better testing and treatment has significantly increased the number of americans living with hiv. still, one of every five people who has hiv doesn't know it and we told you in july that the fda approved the first completely

inhome hiv test. and the big news here is that that test, which can deliver results within 40 minutes with a swab of your mouth, has now officially hit drugstores. joining me to talk about it, none other than nba legend magic johnson, who, of course, who can forget that day, '91, stunned the world when he announced he had hiv, 21 years ago. magic johnson, it is a pleasure, it is an honor, thank you so much for joining me today. and just so we're all clear, so everyone knows, you are being paid by the testmaker, orasure technologies. how does this work, this inhome test? >> well, first of all, brooke, it is a real game changer because of the fact that a lot of people will go to their doctors and we want to encourage them to continue to do that. but then there is a lot of people who are afraid to go to the doctor, to find out if they are hiv positive or not. so when orasure made this home

oral quick swab that you can take -- swab your mouth, both upper and lower, it is really great because now you can find out in your own home, or your office, wherever you want to do it, and it is available right now in drugstores today, you know, from walgreens, cvs on, it is important because now we take away a lot of the fear of going to the doctor and that's very, very important. >> how accurate is it? i do this at home? >> it is about 90%. and that's really wonderful. 90 plus. and that's great. because that's what's important. look, doctors are already using this. so this is nothing like new. and the great thing about it, they have been using it for many, many years. so now it is just available to the public. and so it is great because when you think about the fear factor, and you think about early detection can save your life, that's why i'm here 21 years, i found out early, i jumped on it,

i started taking my meds, i made sure i still work out, and i made sure i was comfortable with my new status. and that's what we want to point out to people here. we want you to go take this test, or even go to the doctors, whichever way, but we want to make sure you take an hiv and aids test to find out your status. do something about it. >> i can just hear the people thinking, gosh, should i really be getting the news? if i am hiv positive, is this something i should be finding out? let's say i'm alone, in my own home, no mandatory counseling for me to get this test, you know. is that necessarily a good thing? >> be home and have somebody -- if you're afraid to get it yourself, have a friend, both of you can take one or your husband, your partner, so to take the fear factor out of it, like you don't have a support system sitting there, you can do it with a friend, do it with somebody from your church, whatever it is that is going to make you comfortable. all we want you to do is get a

test. and i think this is what is really important because a lot of people -- what our problem has been, a lot of people going to get tested when they have gone to the doctors, but they won't go back for the results. so right here, now we're saying in your own home, you can get the test, take it, find out your results, have somebody sitting there. if you need somebody sitting there, which is good, so they can support you if you are hiv positive. >> this is why this is such a big deal. that is why this is a first. not only you taking the test at home, you're getting the results at home as well. magic, as you point out, you're living proof, my new friend here, that you can really manage hiv, live this healthy successful life, but i imagine, magic, a lot of people look at you, already got tweets from people saying, he's a superstar athlete, he has all kinds of money, access to the best drugs. so i want to ask you if you really do. hold that thought. we'll get the answer after the break. dache.

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back with magic johnson. we're talking about the athome hivtalking about magic drugs. i have a feel you're about to tell me you don't take magic drugs. you take drugs that anyone out there that can take. >> the same 30 or so that is available to everybody else, that is the same 30 or so that is available to me. i'm on three of the drugs, the cocktail, and i've been on those three and the cocktail is really changed the way we all can live today in terms of living with hiv. it is really been a game changer there for us because it prolonged life. that's what i've been on. money can't save me. it has got to be the drugs. it has got to be my mind set. it has got to be my attitude and me being comfortable with my status. i've been comfortable for the last 20 years, the first year

was tifl fdifficult for me. but after that, i was comfortable. i still got the big smile on my face. they got to first be comfortable with their new status and then go on and live your life. because you can still have a productive life. but the key is, early detection. that's why we're talking about this test. you got to get this test, find out your status and then go to a doctor or health care provider and let them get you on some regiments. >> deal. i think a lot of people heard you and listened. since i have you, i have a couple of other questions so we'll turn the corner. you're a basketball legend, ncaa champion michigan state, champion with the lakers, olympic gold medalist, since you've retired and i say that in air quotes because you're a busy guy, very successful businessman owning movie theaters and burger kings and gyms and now your dodgers, sorry about your dodgers, by the way, with the presidential election less than a month away, magic johnson, as

a business man, just curious, which candidate do you align with more when it comes to economy and business policys? >> well, you know, i've always been a president obama supporter. i'm still that today. i think that, you know, he needs four more years to really make a change in the economy and get this country moving in the right direction. we definitely need more jobs. and so i'm still supporting him. and i know that he will do even better job if he can get four more years. >> okay. and just final question, your greatest rival in college, and then in the pros, larry byrd. you're both in your mid-50s, i believe. best buddies. just between us, magic, who would win in a one on one game today? you think you could still sink a the -- he could still sink a three? >> everything from the outside, larry would win. but anything going to the basket i would win.

>> magic johnson. i love your smile. i love your optimism. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, brooke, for having me. now this, here we go, continuing on hour two. i'm brooke baldwin. we have to begin with this. jerry sandusky convicted child molester, former penn state assistant football coach, now heading to prison for at least 30 years. at age 68, that sentence means sandusky will most likely die in prison. jason carol was inside the courtroom this morning for that sentencing. he joins me live where jason, i know, there was just this outpouring of emotion from sandusky, from some of his victims. what did you hear in the courtroom today? >> reporter: i think what affected a number of people in the courtroom was when you heard the victims speak for themselves. you had victim five who stood up and addressed the court, crying, brooke. he walked up to the podium very slowly, did not look at jerry

sandusky, he was just sitting to his right, a few feet away. he looked directly in front of him at judge cleland as he read a prepared statement, part of which said the sentence will never erase what he did to me, it will never make me whole. he must pay for his crimes. victim number four spoke as well. he was much more defiant and this is how he was basically throughout the trial when he testified. he was feisty on the stand, when he testified during trial, and he was, again today, when he went up to the podium, he looked directly at jerry sandusky, several times, when he gave his statement saying i want you to know that i do not forgive you. i do not know if i can ever forgive you. jerry sandusky's family was there, they listened intently as the victims spoke. they leaned forward. dottie sandusky as well as jerry's children who are also there in the courtroom, kara,

e.j. and jeff as well. they listened as jerry stood up and he gave his statement for 13 minutes. he looked over at his family, became somewhat emotional and i said i feel the need to talk, not for arrogance but from my heart. i'm filled with emotion and determination. i does not do these disgusting acts. others can make me out to be a monster, but they cannot take away my heart. jerry sandusky has always maintained his innocence and today when he was in urt, he painted himself as the victim here. brooke? >> maintain his innocence, but convicted of molesting ten boys over 15 years. finally, jason, how did he appear leaving court? we had the bullet prove vest on. what is next for him? >> reporter: well, what is next for him, if you believe what his attorney joe amendola says is an appeal. joe amendola feels as though -- told me outside the court here today, he did not have adequate time to prepare his case, he said he had to stop with the investigating at one point, which he needed to do, in order to prepare for trial.

so he's going to launch an appeal based in part on that. but many of the people you speak to out here, including joe, the prosecutor, says that's literally just what he called, quote, bull. he said jerry sandusky is just a common criminal mutt in his words. that's what he called him as he left the courthouse today and said there are no grounds for an appeal. >> the victim's statements were a vivid reminder of the defendant's brutal crimes. no reminder was needed. defendant's behavior and statement today were consistent with the behavior throughout the period of time covered by the trial. that he displayed deviance, narcissism, a lack of feeling for the pain he caused others and to the end an unwillingness to accept responsibility. >> the bottom line is this, jerry never flinched from his position that he was innocent and that he wanted the opportunity to prove his

innocence. >> reporter: so, again you heard from both sides outside the courthouse today. and if you believe what joe amendola says, you'll be hearing from them again, brooke. >> jason carol, jason, thank you. also today, a collective sigh came across our newsroom, perhaps your office, certainly in new mexico. what was supposed to be this mind blowing record-breaking attempt it was canceled for now. austrian pilot felix baumgartner, suited up, ready to go. there is the massive helium balloon expected to take him 23 miles above earth. we were watching, sitting there with bated breath and then the launch was canceled. brian todd has been in roswell now for a couple of days, waiting for this thing to go up, up and away. i know it has got to be a disappointment for the whole team out there where you are. have you at all been able to talk to anyone who has spoken to felix, how is he feeling? et cetera? >> reporter: we have, brooke. we spoke to a gentleman named art thompson, the technical

project director of the whole thing. he said felix was disappointed and you could see it in his face as he was looking at him in the monitor there, with the monitor inside the capsule. and everybody at mission control was disappointed. we could see a live feed of it from where we are and their body language and shaking their heads. you can see the whole story on their faces. a real sense of disappointment here on the ground. an hour and a half ago, this was scheduled to be launched. the balloon and capsule together, scheduled to be launched about an hour and a half ago when they had to abort the mission because of a gust of wind at the surface created a spinnaker affect and you could see it from here, the winds whipping that balloon around, farley severely. that balloon is totally spent. they hauled it away on a truck. it cannot be used again. they have a backup balloon, but, brooke, they tell us they have only one backup balloon. so monitoring the weather conditions, the ground conditions in the next couple of days is going to be crical. what we're told now is tomorrow is out because of the weather, number one. but also because the crew, the

300 person support team needs to rest. they're going to try to aim for thursday. they think the weather conditions may be bet and the winds may be a little more tame then. thursday the day they're aiming for now, brooke. >> you talked to felix, he's an experienced base jumper, but a lot of people, myself including, thinking is this guy crazy. this is life and death situation here. you asked him if he's afraid of dying. what did he tell you? >> i did. i had a chance to speak to felix about five months ago at the air and space museum in washington. we talked about all sorts of things about his preparations and all of that. that central question, you know, are you afraid of dying on this? take a listen to what he said. >> well, dying is always part of my life, as a base jumper, you always face death on every base jump. and therefore it is important that you do your homework, because you need confidence have to have confidence in the team, and skills in yourself. and always hope that you're not

going to die. it might happen but i'm going to put everything out there to make sure it is not going to happen. >> reporter: so felix baumgartner and the support team now monitoring everything possible. also working through some of the technical issues that they may have been going through in the moments leading up to this potential launch this morning. one of the issues that we were told about was a radio went dead, so they have to work through that as well. right now the target for the next attempt, brooke, is thursday morning. >> brian todd, hopefully talking thursday, we'll be talking about this successful attempt to break the sound barrier. brian, thank you. i want to turn to chad myers who i know has been watching this, all the different increments here, as this has happened today. i'm just curious, when this happened, he was suited up, in the capsule and then they had to call it. what exactly happened. >> it was like a dust devil on the ground. we didn't see dust blowing around. we had a 16-mile-per-hour gust, and that gust just blew that thing in a big circle. we could see debris blowing around on the tarmac, right

below it. as soon as that balloon touched the ground, you could put a hole in it. don't know if there was a hole in it, but too big of a risk it could have touched a sharp rock, a stone or whatever and that balloon is worthless. not a cloud in the sky. that's the problem. this morning, they were supposed to launch 9:00, 9:45. there was a layer of wind 800 to a thousand feet in the sky, going too fast, about 15 miles per hour. when they put the balloon up, that would have taken the balloon and knocked it over. the balloon would be going like this. they didn't want that. they waited. they waited for that wind to go away. and it did. the problem is when they waited, the ground heated up. it was 48. heated up to 83. that warm air wanted to rise so the rising air caused this turbulent little dust devil like you see in the desert anytime when there is wind up here, wind going up, air coming down and the air coming down mixed together and in that one small spot right where that balloon was, that's where that little

dust devil happened and it is all over for today. >> had all kinds of people, teams there paying very close attention, any little thing could have altered course and i don't want to think what that would have meant. thank you. now this. romney and obama, as the candidates blitz the buckeye state and the polls tighten, could this all come down to ohio? i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. should race play a role in college admissions? the nation's highest court set to hear a complaint from a white student. plus, a consulate's attacked, an ambassador is killed, and this lawmaker wants answers. jason chaffetz joins me live fresh off his trip to libya. take your salary, multiply it by eight, boom, that is how much fidelity says you need to retire.

i'm barack obama, and i approve this message. "i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut.

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electoral votes considered up to now a tossup, despite the fact that many polls have given an edge to the president. i promised you last hour john king, i deliver, of course, john king, good to see you, he's in columbus right now. and, hang on, john king, i do have to get this in, paul steinhauser, our colleague, in washington, he's updated our cnn poll of polls, and this is an average of nine national polls. and for the first time, in my recollection, this cnn poll of polls shows a lead for mitt romney. romney leading obama here, 48% to 47% in our cnn poll of polls. and, john, i'm ondering, since we're seeing this post debate swing, it appears toward romney, are the predebate polls in ohio that show that obama lead, are those pretty much null and void? >> i would wait until the top of the hour and release our new cnn poll from the state of ohio. i talked to the romney campaign, some sources in the romney campaign a short time ago, and they say they have governor

romney down one point in ohio. we'll show you our numbers at the top of the hour. there is no question the national polls show a debate bounce and you feel it on the ground, talking to people here, talking to republican strategists in the state and the obama campaign can see, they may dispute the numbers but they can see this is a place where governor romney got a bounce after the first debate. this is a place he needed it. no republican has won the presidency without ohio. seven points, eight points, minus ten for governor romney, just a week ago, some republicans were saying is there any way to win without ohio. forget about that, this will be a battleground until the end. >> this is one of the findings of the pew poll, it shows mitt romney pulling even with the president among women voters. which is astonishing given the fact that romney trailed obama by 18 points among women. we talked about women so much in this race, that was last month. as i understand it, women could really be crucial to delivering ohio its 18 electoral votes come

november 6th, correct? >> no question. all other things being equal, meaning the president gets a significant african-american turnout, romney gets a significant evangelical turnout, who are the key votes in the suburbs? suburban women. so the pew finding was interesting to show in that poll bye-bye to the gender gap. we have seen the president ahead. that's one of the problems you talk to people on the ground here. we'll have our new numbers in a few minutes. governor romney made up support among independents, some support of the suburbs, holding his own among older voters. white women, white women an area -- white working class women are traditionally a republican vote, t 47% remark, that is one of the things, you talk to people here about why, yo do you have douwhy do you ha

47%. >> we were talking about ohio specifically and how it could be the mother of all swing states. obama and romney, both there today. i guess they'll be back there presumably multiple times again before the election, don't you think? >> they'll be paying state income taxes here by the time they're done. i was stunned yesterday, looking at colorado and stunned when i saw $33 million spent on tv ads in the state of colorado. forget about that. here is ohio. the last six months since we knew romney was the republican nominee, $91 million spent on the presidential campaign if in tv ads. about roughly evenly divided, pro obama, $46.6 million, romney $45 million. in the last two weeks, $20.5 million on tv ads in ohio alone and the presidential race again. about an even split, slight advantage for pro obama forces. you cannot turn on the tv here without being bombarded.

that won't stop. >> two weeks, two weeks left. four weeks left. you're fast-forwarding time on me here, john king. >> four weeks. >> mother of all swing states, ohio. tonight, must see tv, wolf blitzer live interview with mitt romney, 6:00 eastern, only here on cnn and then fast-forward to thursday, it is the vice presidential debate, joe biden versus paul ryan. cnn special live coverage starts 7:00 p.m. eastern, 4:00 pacific. got religion? four more americans apparently not. a surprising new study out on americans and religion shows just how many people are checking out a religious service altogether. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common.

they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more

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here is a question for you, what is the fastest growing relious group in america? think on it. what is the fastest religious group here? would you be surprised if i said none. as in not affiliated, not identifying with any one religion. here's what pew found, just recently conducted this survey. in the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all u.s. adults. so translation, that is one in five. the ranks include 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics and another 33 million who say they have no religious identity whatsoever. i want to bring in jay thomas, an actor and host of his own radio show. good to have you back on. religion, you talk about it on your show. we were talking about it during the commercial, you were raised catholic, went to jesuit school.

just with that background, what do you make of the figure, 13 million americans who call themselves atheists? do you think there are more out there that are just afraid of the atheist label? >> you know, i'm not so sure it was -- i'm not sure it was atheism i saw. i saw between 18 and 30 years old, that was the largest group of nonaffiliated people, i have three sons that are in that age group. and it is kind of like religion is not inclusive enough for them. i feel badly about eating at chick-fil-a after what was said, right, because when you hear stuff like that, that is not what my bible taught me, you know, the one umbrella, all inclusive. if you think back, there were reasons in the pibible for slavery, for women not having position, for only white males able to own land, i think it is

foolish to organize religion, not to wake up and go, we better be more inclusive or people like my sons or children that are coming up are not going to join an organized religion. they're not going to be atheists, it is going to be personal, you know, they're going to have their personal beliefs. >> that does that mean, though? talking about your own children, they fit this age range, they want that all encompassing -- i won't say religion, they're calling themselves spiritual, you read the study further, it says they do pray, someone in the newsroom said who do they pray to? perhaps a higher being, maybe not a specific god? is that what your kids tell you? >> they pray to me, how about that? >> j. no, seriously. is this just -- is this young people's need to be independent, or is it just -- they're being la lazy? >> no, it is more about the fact that they're inclusive. we have taught them to be inclusive. people are not forgetting.

you're not supposed to make fun of people. you can't bully anybody. accept all races and everybody's orientation. and that's what they're taught starting in nursery school now. but then you have states like kansas, which teaches creationism over evolution in the public schools, on our radio show, we make fun of that. in texas, they have negated how important thomas jefferson is because he took the miracles out of the bible because he said they were kind of silly stories made up where if you want to believe, you should believe in god without the miracles. the texas public schools don't really teach thomas jefferson the way he ought to be taught. i think our kids are living in the here and now. and they look at the old farts if you will that are screaming and yelling on television and they go, that's not what we see in our everyday life. we're inclusive. >> do you think this is a good thing? because i know there would be a

chunk of society that would say this is not a good thing, all these young people are growing up, will have this godless society. what do you say to those people? >> gee, my kids don't kill anyone, my kids don't steal, my kids are truthful, they're kind, and i've never heard my children mention that they do it because of god or religion. don't think anybody listening's child or good relative has to believe in god to be a good person. i think i'm excited by this. i think that organized religion does great things, very charitable. they will -- they will gain if they become inclusive. i wasn't kidding about chick-fil-a. it really stuns people that these guys would talk about gay people not being able to marry and causing you not to want to go eat a sandwich because of some religious thing. it is a big umbrella. and the god i believe in, and the spirit i believe in, is

more, i guess, inclusive than i am as a person. and so -- i fight against being totally cynical and i fight against saying that you're doing something wrong. and i look up and i go, okay, you're right, whatever that is, i'm supposed to be more inclusive. that's what organized religion needs to do. >> all right, so you say it is a good thing and you have proof in your three children that it is a good thing. jay thomas, i love that no topic is taboo with you. we appreciate it. and we'll come back. jay thomas, thank you very much. coming up here -- >> the church of sensible christianity is what i'm promoting. >> jay thomas, thank you. race and college admissions, should schools be required to promote diversity in higher education? the nation's highest court taking up affirmative action and a white student at the center of the whole case. we're on it next. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit.

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mexican forces confirm they killed the boss of a brutal zetas drug cartel. he died in the shootout on sunday in a small town in northern mexico. the kingpin is allegedly responsible for countless gruesome crimes including the decapitation and dismemberment of dozens of people back in may. and in an odd twist, a group of armed men have stolen his body, stolen his body from a funeral home. though authorities have taken fingerprints and photographs to confirm his identity. convicted killer, joran van der sloot, may have fathered a child while serving a 28-year sentence in that peruvian prison. a dutch newspaper is reporting he met a woman behind bars and she became pregnant after an unsupervised visit. the paper does say his lawyer did not confirm the pregnancy,

van der sloot is well known for the murder of stephany flores in peru, arrested but never charged in the 2005 disappearance of u.s. teenager natalee holloway in aruba. talk about a high stakes court case. determining what role government should play when promoting diversity and higher education. the u.s. supreme court will hear the case of this 22-year-old, her name is abigail fisher, and this happens tomorrow. so here is the back story. she sued the university of texas at austin after her college application was rejected. this was a couple of years ago in 2008. claiming racial preference admission policies violate her rights because she's white. >> i was taught from the time i was a little girl that any kind of discrimination was wrong. and for an institution of higher learning to act this way makes no sense to me. what kind of example does this set for others. >> cnn legal analyst sunny hostin is on the case with me. sunny, this comes a decade after

the u.s. supreme court approved the use of race as a factor in college admissions. what is different about this case? >> well, i've got to tell you, you know, it is sort of -- the issue remains the same pretty much. whether or not race can be used as a factor, justne of many factors in determining the admission of a student. whether or not it is really a compelling state interest to have a diverse student body, or educational benefits, to having diversity. that issue remains the same. what is different here, brooke, is that the players have changed because the supreme court has changed. in 2003 when this was dealt with, it was the university of michigan law school, but sandra day o'connor wrote the opinion. she retired in 2006 and was replaced by justice alito. the players have changed and their decisions could be different based on that, i believe. >> speaking of the players, jut

anthony kennedy, very much still around, he was a dissenter in the last case that dealt with affirmative action. might he likely be -- we talk about justice kennedy being the swing vote a lot, might he be the deciding vote this time around? i think there is no question, brooke, he is the pivotal vote here. you're right, he was the dissenter in 2003. it is difficult to anticipate what his decision will be because in his dissent, he said, you know what, race can be a factor. it just cannot be the predominant factor. but in his entire career, in his entire career, he has never voted in favor of race-based decisions. so i'm never really inclined as you know to guess what the supreme court is going to do. i never think that is a smart thing to do. but in this case, you know, there is no question his is the pivotal vote. >> okay. this young woman, abigail fisher, she's suing as an individual, not part of a class action claim.

does that help her? >> i don't think it helps her or hurts her. she has brought the issue to the forefront. she will have a place in history when it comes to this really important supreme court decision. but i don't know that it really matters that it wasn't a class action lawsuit. this decision is in front of the supreme court, and they're going to be hearing argument on it tomorrow. >> tomorrow. tomorrow. sunny hostin on the case. thank you. from a drunk driving arrest to the economy. events that became what are called october surprises, which is 28 days to go, what else could go wrong? what could go right? that could shape this presidential election. aaron blake, from the washington post, joins me to discuss. ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts.

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spin. when that something happens just a couple of weeks before election day, it is called an october surprise. the washington post aaron blake joins me now to talk about it. your colleague chris wrote this article this morning. we appreciate you coming on. i understand that the credit for the first october surprise actually goes to richard nixon's campaign, specifically to henry kissinger. tell me what happened. >> i don't know if it was call an october surprise back then, but basically during the campaign it was at the height of the vietnam war, and kissinger who was then secretary of state, said that peace was at hand in vietnam. shortly before the election democrats of course pounced on this and said it was geared towards helping nixon's re-election campaign and obviously he wound up winning. this is something that can certainly have an effect on the election. >> both ways, right? eight years later everyone expected jimmy carter to pull his own october surprise,

announce the release of all of the americans held hostage in iran. that didn't actually happen until after the election and carter lost the white house. how much of that was a surprise, versus perhaps just, you know, dashed expectations? >> it was the october surprise that didn't happen. it was something, you know, people were looking for the redux of what happened when richard nixon was president and there was this big thing at the end of the race that helped out the incumbent president and never came along with carter. he wound up losing. >> now we jump all the way october 2000, news broke, george w. bush had been arrested for drunk driving, granted that happened way back in the '70s. how was he able to overcome that story so close to the election? >> well, you know, he can't really overcome it. he just didn't pay a high enough price. everybody will recall, of course, that he actually lost the popular vote in that race, even though he won the electoral vote. where as he was up by about five points before that story broke. i think it is pretty clear that

that cost him some votes but didn't cost him quite enough to actually cost him the election. >> so, aaron, what is our october surprise? or have we already seen it? >> i don't know we have yet. some people are talking about the debate as the october surprise. some people are talking about the jobs report. i'm not sure either of those are really a huge game changing event in and of themselves. the beauty of the october surprise is that we don't know what it is before it happens. but a lot of times these things happen, have to do with foreign policy, obviously, the release of the osama bin laden tape in 2004, that changed the shift -- the picture of the election. right now there is something going on in libya that could have a significant impact on the election. we're seeing the romney campaign talk more about foreign policy now. so we don't know what it is going to be. a youtube video, perhaps, that is being held until the last moment. it is going to be interesting to see if there is, in fact, an october surprise as there often

is at the end of a campaign. >> the strategy and the spin of the october surprise. we'll be looking out for it. aaron blake, columnist for the fix, washington post. thank you. speaking of libya, one question, what went wrong? what went wrong with the security and the consulate in libya? benghazi. four americans killed there last month, including u.s. ambassador chris stevens. were there warning signs that were missed? congressman jason chaffetz just returned from a fact-finding mission in libya and talks about what he saw. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card

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it has been almost a month now since the four americans were killed in libya. u.s. ambassador christopher stevens, foreign service officer shawn smith, and former navy s.e.a.l.s ty woods and glen doherty. but it is clear no one is forgetting about the sacrifices they made, including mitt romney, who, today, emotionally revealed, he randomly met doherty at a holiday party a couple of years ago. >> you can imagine how i felt

when i found out that he was one of the two former navy s.e.a.l.s killed in benghazi on september 11th, and it touched me obviously as i recognized this young man that i thought was so impressive, had lost his life in the service of his fellow men and women. he -- according to the reports on cnn international, that i read, he was actually in a different building, an annex, a safe place somewhere else across town when he and his colleagues there heard that the consulate was under attack. and they went there. >> so that was mitt romney a couple of hours ago. let me tell you what is happening tomorrow. there will be a hearing on capitol hill to look into, quote, the security failures that preceded that attack. this is from the oversight and government reform house committee's website and i spoke with a committee member, congressman jason chaffetz, spent this past weekend in

tripoli, libya, on a fact-finding mission saying benghazi was too dangerous for him to even enter. >> i also walked away with my own personal impression that really politics was driving the security decisions. the need and desire by the obama administration to have the perception of normalization as quickly as possible as opposed to letting the security personnel dictate what security should look like in libya. >> perception of normalization. is this based upon people you spoke with, details you know you can't share, or just a gut feeling? >> a little bit of all of the above. but clearly there was an ask to secure the physical facilities and have upgrades to those, those were denied. they had made requests for additional american personnel who knew how to handle a gun and protect those, that was also denied. >> that said, congressman, i have this letter, this is the letter dated october 2nd that you and chairman issa, darrell

issa, sent specificly to secretary of state hillary clinton and let me read part of it for you. and just for our viewers. you helped write this. it reads, multiple u.s. federal government officials have confirmed to the committee that prior to the september 11th attack, the u.s. mission in libya made repeated requests for increased security in benghazi, the mission was denied, these these resources by officials in washington and you go on to date these different examples. is it says confirmed to the committee. the question is, did congressman issa talk to democrats about sending the letter? >> we have fully informed the democrats. in fact, we interviewed somebody this morning, the democrats were there. i went to tripoli. he invited the democrats to come to that. >> how -- let me jump in -- we're hearing a different story from democrats who are telling cnn that they got a 24-hour heads up. >> that's what i got too. that's what i got as well. given the security parameters

there, i could barely talk to my wife to tell her i was going in there, that's about all the security would allow us to go in there. imagine the targets that we would be knowing that we would be there on the ground. i did go down with general hammond. the state department sent an attorney from their office that joined us the entire time. >> jason chaffetz with us earlier today. again, thank you. he went on to acknowledge he has voted to cut spending on security at embassies and diplomatic outposts worldwide. and the killings in benghazi now show a need to reprioritize where money is being spent. just ahead, families, including young children, going hungry. today, thousands in greece taking to the streets to protest, absolutely outraged over austerity measures orchestrated by german chancellor angela merkel. plus, let's talk down the road for you and i, retirement, funding your retirement, fidelity announcing a magic number you should have in your retirement account. question is, are you there yet? silverado!

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heavy fighting near the capital of syria overnight. you can't see a lot because it's very dark, but you can hear plenty. this is damascus. take a listen. [ gunfire ] it was a fire fight near an air force compound just outside of damascus. opposition groups say two huge car bombs exploded in this area. and then there's this. more intense fighting again near but in the suburbs outside damascus. activists say at least 60 people were killed in fighting across syria today. german chancellor angela merkel's trip to greece today was met by thousands of very angry greeks. riot police -- look at this, clashed with an estimated ,000 protesters. why are they angry?

because they're angry at this woman they really see as the enforcer of this massive budget cut imposed by the eu, the european union. they are designed to help end the debt crisis but also cost unemployment to soar. and speaking of money, will you be financially ready for retirement? cnn's christine romans has an easy way to find out if you're stashing away enough for your golden years. >> brooke, what's your magic number? not your ideal weight, not your age. it's the number you need to comfortably retire. and the number to remember is the number eight. to meet basic living expenses in retirement, you need eight times your pay saved. fidelity has this rule of thumb. for the typical wage earner to stay on track by age 35 you should have saved one time your annual salary inour 401(k) or

ira. by the age 45 three times, by 55 you need five times your pay. and by retirement age that's how you get to the number eight. you should have eight times your salary saved. financial planners say for higher earnings say between $150,000 to $200,000 a year, you should aim for at least ten times the last year's pay. and, yes, that's well over a million, maybe two million dollars. chances are you aren't there. hardly anyone is, brooke. but financial planners are buzzing about this new way to think about it. eight times your final year's pay. it might be too simplistic, but it is some place to start. the earlier you start the better. and remember, eight times salary does not include all that college savings for your kids. brooke, that's separate. >> christine romans, thank you. americans living with hiv, now there's this home base test -- this in-home test that offers private results and early desection. irvin magic johnson tells me this new test is in his words a game changer. -expensive option n using a traditional lawyer?

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nchtsz couple minutes away from "the situati room" with wolf blitzer. wolf, not that the sit room is always must-see tv, but 6:00 eastern you have a huge interview. >> a live interview with the republican presidential nominee mitt romney. we're going to go through a bunch of the major issues right now on the agenda the national security issues, some domestic issues as well. i've got some other questions. 6:00 p.m. eastern he'll be live right here in "the situation room." my interview with mitt romney. coming up though at the top of the hour in less than three minutes we have a brand new cnn/orc poll on ohio. ohio, ohio, ohio. what's going on in this critical battleground state? our own john king is standing by. he'll join us live. no republican as you know, brooke, has ever won the white house without capturing ohio. you're about to see what impact a debate has had on voters at least according to this snapshot in ohio. standby for that. >> yeah. we are calling ohio the mother

of all swing states this elecon, wolf blitzer, we will see you in a few. thank you, sir. but before i let you go, finally, here's a startling statistic. one in every five americans with hiv has no idea they're infected. we told you last hour about this new hiv test that just hit drugstores today. it's fda approved. it's about $40. and you can get the results at home in about 40 minutes. and nba legend magic johnson joined me from new york to talk about it. and, you know his story, he stunned the world. now more than 21 years ago when he announced he was hiv positive. and now magic johnson is a paid sponsor for the maker of this new test. it's called orasure technologies. here's what magic told me. >> brooke, it's a real game changer because of the fact that a lot of people will go to their doctors. and we want to encourage them to continue to do that. but then there's a lot of people who are afraid to go to the doctor to find out if they are hiv positive or not.

so when orasure made this quick swab that you can just swab your mouth both upper and lower, it's really great because now you can find out in your own home or your office, wherever you want to do it, and it's available right now in drugstores today from walgreens, cvs, on. it's really important because we take away a lot of the fear of going to the doctor. and that's very important. >> how accurate is it if i do this at home? >> it's about 90%. that's really wonderful. 90% plus and that's great because that's what's important. >> so the last word from magic johnson, we talked for a while, he really said whatever hiv test you use, whether it's this one in home or go to the doctors, he just says make sure you get tested. magic johnson, my thanks to you.